Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Chelmsford, Massachusetts

41 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1988. It stands in Chelmsford town. It lies in ZIP code area 01824. It stands on Pine Hill. The Survey maps it on the Billerica quadrangle.

Chelmsford within Middlesex County

Then and now

1886 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 102 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Chelmsford, surveyed 1988

Topographic sheet of Chelmsford, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

41 sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Photographs

2 photographs, 1941

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Mr. Joquin Silva, Portuguese poultry and market farmer. His two sons work in town. Chelmsford, Massachusetts
Delano, Jack, 1941. Library of Congress

Mrs. Jaquin Silva, Portuguese poultry farmer and market gardener, has seven hundred hens. Her two sons work in town. Chelmsford, Massachusetts
Delano, Jack, 1941. Library of Congress

Fires nearby

63 since 2002

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 63 fires within 5 miles of Chelmsford between 2002 and 2020, burning about 32 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 6 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	26
Debris and open burning	17
Arson/incendiarism	6
Recreation and ceremony	5
Natural	2
Railroad operations and maintenance	2
Smoking	2
Equipment and vehicle use	1
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1
Other causes	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
6 September 2002	Smoking	under an acre	Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
26 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
5 August 2002	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
4 August 2002	Arson/incendiarism	1.0 acres	Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
18 August 2002	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
17 August 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
17 August 2015	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
17 August 2002	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 700 shown

Museums hold 700 specimens collected within 10 miles of Chelmsford between 1898 and 1975: 425 Plantae, 177 Animalia, 65 Fungi, 29 Protozoa, 3 Chromista, 1 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. F. Newton, A. F. Newton, M. K. Thayer and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Boletus griseus Frost	1898	H. Webster
Exosporium pusillum P.Karst.	1898	King C. A.	Stony Brook
Salix eriocephala Michx.	1898	E. F. Williams
Aristida dichotoma Michx.	1899	E. F. Williams
Arthrosporium compositum Ellis	1899	Rorer	East Billerica
Bidens cernua L.	1899	E. F. Williams
Fuirena pumila (Torr.) Spreng.	1899	E. F. Williams
Galium tinctorium (L.) Scop.	1899	not recorded
Marsilea quadrifolia L.	1899	not recorded
Araiospora pulchra Thaxt.	1900	Thaxter, R.	Stony Brook
Boletus frostii J.L.Russell	1900	A. W. Flint
Cephalanthus occidentalis L.	1900	M. Rodman	Concord.

All 700 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 30 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 30 workings within 5 miles of Chelmsford: 17 past producers, 8 producers, 5 plants. 13 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Graphite, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Chelmsford Mill	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Plant
West Chelmsford Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Avaco Corp--Lowell, Ma.	Graphite	Plant
Fiber Matls Plant--Graniteville, Ma	Graphite	Plant
Stackpole Fibers Co--Lowell, Ma.	Graphite	Plant
Fletcher Westford Quarry	Granite	Producer
Forest Road Quarry	Granite	Past Producer
Guilmette Bros Granite	Granite	Past Producer	Granite
H E Fletcher Co	Granite	Past Producer	Granite
Le Masurier Granite Quarry Inc	Granite	Past Producer	Granite

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Storms nearby

25 since 2003

The National Weather Service names Chelmsford in 25 storm reports between 2003 and 2024: 16 thunderstorm wind, 4 flood, 3 hail, 2 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	West Chelmsford	$45,000	Trees and power lines on Jonathan Lane, Warren Avenue and Spaulding Road were downed by thunderstorm winds. A tree in Chelmsford center and another on Boston Road were downed onto cars.
September 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	West Chelmsford	$20,000	Trees were downed onto Chelmsford Street. Large limbs were downed throughout town. An air conditioning unit was blown off its support on an office roof, but remained on the roof. Trees were downed on Route 110 near Interstate 495.
June 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	South Chelmsford	$15,000	At 5:30 PM EST, many trees and wires were brought down on Old Lowell Road and Chelmsford Road in Westford.
July 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	West Chelmsford	$15,000	Three trees at the intersection of Grandview and Locke Roads were downed by thunderstorm winds.
February 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	West Chelmsford	$10,000	Two large trees on Warren Avenue in Chelmsford were downed by thunderstorm winds.
September 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	West Chelmsford	$8,000	Trees and power lines on Pine Hill Road were downed by thunderstorm winds. A large maple tree on Meehan Drive was downed onto a roof, destroying a portion of the chimney.
March 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	South Chelmsford	$7,000	In Chelmsford, a large tree and wires were down on Hunt Road at Alcorn Road; a tree fell onto a house on Riverneck Road; a tree was down on Old Westford Road; and a tree was down on Westford Street.
June 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	South Chelmsford	$6,000	At 5:35 PM EST, multiple trees were brought down on State Route 27 (Acton Road) in Westford and Chelmsford, near the town line.
September 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	West Chelmsford	$5,000	In Chelmsford, numerous trees were down and snapped. Straight line SW to NE after the heavy rainfall.
March 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	North Chelmsford	$5,000	A tree on Old Westford Road was downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	West Chelmsford	$5,000	Several trees were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	North Chelmsford	$5,000	no account filed
August 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	West Chelmsford	$2,000	In Chelmsford, there were reports of trees and wires down all over town.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	South Chelmsford	$1,300	In Chelmsford, there were trees and wires down on Robin Hill Road.
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	North Chelmsford	$800	In North Chelmsford, trees were reported down on wires.
May 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	West Chelmsford	$500	A tree was downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2023	Flash Flood	West Chelmsford	$200	In North Chelmsford at 445 PM EDT (345 PM EST), Middlesex Street at Cedar Street was closed due to flooding. At 446 PM EDT, significant street flooding was reported on Old Westford Road behind the police station, per police department...relayed by amateur radio.
July 2023	Flash Flood	North Chelmsford	-	In Lowell, a Jeep was stuck in street flooding on Wellman Ave.
August 2023	Flood	West Chelmsford	-	In Chelmsford, there was significant street flooding on Rt 110.
June 2023	Hail	North Chelmsford	-	In North Chelmsford, dime size hail was reported.
July 2020	Hail	West Chelmsford	-	In Chelmsford, dime sized hail was reported.
August 2018	Flood	East Chelmsford	-	At 3:44 PM EST, street flooding reached a depth of two to three feet on Gorham Street in Lowell.
October 2017	Flood	East Chelmsford	-	At 1210 AM EST, street flooding was reported at the junction of Gorham and Moore Streets in Lowell. The Speen Street on-ramp to State Route 9 in Natick was flooded and impassable; Route 9 eastbound in Natick near the pumping station was flooded. State Route 9 westbound in Framingham was flooded near Temple Road. State Route 129 in Wilmington was flooded and impassable near the 99 Restaurant. Sections of Massachusetts Avenue and Summer Street in Arlington were closed to flooding. Somerville Avenue at Laurel Street in Somerville was flooded. A section of Lexington Street in Waltham was flooded and impassable. A section of Russell Street in Woburn was flooded. The Memorial Drive underpass at the Longfellow Bridge in Cambridge was closed to flooding.
July 2017	Flood	East Chelmsford	-	At 353 PM EST, the intersection of Moore and Gorham Street in Lowell was under two feet of water. There was also street flooding in the area of 131 South Street. At 411 PM EST, the intersection of South and Summer Streets was flooded and impassable. At 327 PM EST, sections of the VFW Parkway were reported flooded and impassable.
August 2011	Hail	West Chelmsford	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Middlesex County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Chelmsford Center	0.8 miles	41
Westlands	1.8 miles	41
South Chelmsford	2.0 miles	43
West Chelmsford	2.1 miles	43
Ward Corner	2.1 miles	43
Princeton Village	2.2 miles	48
Brookside Station	2.4 miles	43
Middlesex Village	2.6 miles	48

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1867306. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.